


If You Can't Love Them, Leave Them

by LiinHaglund



Series: If You Can't [3]
Category: Weiß Kreuz
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Assassins & Hitmen, Canon-Typical Violence, Established Relationship, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, M/M, Out of Character, Precognition, Psychic Abilities, Schuldig Is His Own Warning, Secret Organizations, Telekinesis, Telepathy, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-02
Updated: 2015-07-02
Packaged: 2018-04-26 23:33:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 4,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5024995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiinHaglund/pseuds/LiinHaglund
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eszett is mostly history, is the same true for Kritiker? And are all threats really dealt with?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Want some good music to listen to?
> 
> "Augen Auf" - Riefenstahl  
> "Heile, Heile Segen" - Mono Inc.  
> "Labyrinth" - OOMPH!  
> "Hier Kommt Alex" - Callejon  
> "5. März" - Megaherz  
> "Schwarz" - Stahlmann  
> "Verrückt" - Eisbrecher  
> "Zwischen Uns" - Eisbrecher  
> "Astronaut" - Sido

“Top speed means nothing in the city,” the TV-commercial said. Schuldig wasn't paying attention, he wasn't interested in cars at the moment.

“Yes it does, when you have a mostly naked minor in the back covered in more blood than clothing and the cops want you to pull over,” Farfarello huffed like it was common knowledge. He was talking about driving Nagi after a job, but the others seemed to draw other conclusions.

“I don't think I want to know,” Ken muttered.

“I don't even think most of us could fit inside an electrical car. Maybe Omi and Nagi,” Farfarello mused. “Those city cars are just too small.”

Schuldig tuned them all out. Other things were currently more important to him. Brad had started some kind of argument with Ran, which he had missed because he had been out working. Unlike the annoying kids he had to babysit. He had also missed Ran leaving. Brad was still pissed and snarling, so he wasn't keen on going anywhere near him until the idiot had calmed down.

He tried to find Ran, but came up with nothing. The link was there, so he hadn't dropped dead.

“What are you looking so grim about?” Ken asked him then.

“Ran is out of range.”

“Yeah, he took off after he and Brad had their fight.” Ken shrugged. “He does that. Probably needed to cool off.”

Schuldig sighed irritably. Hadn't he explained this, like, ten times? “If he's out of my range, do you even begin to comprehend how _far away_ he is?” He kicked a chair across the hotel room. “I mean, this is a huge continent, he might still be on it, but I fucking doubt it!”

“Calm down,” Farfarello said. “He'll show up. He took a folder with him so I guess he just wanted to kill something.”

“I don't like this,” Schuldig hissed. He didn't like anyone present at that moment. He hoped Brad would let him kill off the dead weight later. Speaking of, Brad seemed to have calmed some. He walked through the hallway to Brad's room and knocked.

“Where is he?” he asked when the older man opened the door.

Brad stepped aside and nodded for him to get inside. Schuldig did, and he must have looked like a thundercloud because even Brad started to look worried. “He took a job, he's in Europe.”

Schuldig scowled at him. “What did you fight about?”

“Nothing. Everything.”

Schuldig made no secret of sorting through the older man's thoughts. “How long will the job you gave him take?”

“Should just be a few hours. It's easy, just a bit of travel.”

“You said it wouldn't be like this.”

“Like what?” Brad snapped.

“You, being an ass. That there was no point to bring Eszett down just to start acting like them!”

“Why are you so fond of him anyway?”

Schuldig stilled. “You're jealous.” He had spent a lot of time with Ran lately. Brad was unbearable to be around for longer periods of time while he was focused on a job like this.

Brad just glared at him.

Schuldig bared his teeth. “Stubborn ass,” he hissed.

He grabbed his gear and tuned Brad's protests out. The door slammed behind him when he left. He wasn't going far anyway. He needed to be alone and it was just one night before they were leaving, he had picked up that much from Brad's head. They were done. Brad was done with Eszett.

He checked into a hotel down the street. The clerk nearly jumped out of his skin when Schuldig broke his phone in half. Brad really shouldn't sent so many consecutive text messages to him when he was pissed off and expect a different result.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

Brad sat the remainder of the team down. He desperately wanted to fix things with Schuldig and Ran, because he _could_ see how he had been acting. It would just have to wait until the redheads had calmed the fuck down.

Until he had calmed himself the fuck down.

He was calmer than before, but that was mostly due to having a vision about both of them leaving permanently. Like a bucket of icy water on a hot summer day. He didn't want to lose them, not for anything.

“We're going to change a few things,” he said to the gathered assassins. “I was trained by Eszett and I know the best way to destroy them. Or so I thought. Maybe we should have done things differently. We're getting attacked more than anticipated because those left in Eszett fear what will happen if they surrender. We haven't eased their concerns so far.”

“It took both your lovers skipping town to realize that we were on the wrong track?” Nagi asked venomously. “How does this affect tonight's gig?”

Brad glared at the boy, but refrained from snapping back. “It won't go down,” he said evenly.

“Why not?” Ken asked.

“Because I finally sat down and tried to make sense on my visions rather than trying to impose my will on them. The best course of action is to leave it alone. Things will settle on their own.”

The others sat quietly.

“It means we have to leave and cover our tracks. Eszett is too far down the drain to pick itself up, but we have enemies here so do a good job of disappearing. Schuldig is in a hotel nearby and I've told Bear to make sure he gets back safe. Alpha will check on Ran. The rest of you will come with either me or Chameleon – depending on who you'd rather spend a few long flights with right now. Go pack. That's all.”

When the others left to pack Nagi lingered. Eventually he walked up to Brad. “Dinner had better be on you tonight.”

“I'm still not your Dad.”

“You've been dating my _Mom_ ,” Nagi huffed. “So feed me.”

Brad gave in and waved for the boy to follow when he left. “Grab your fucking coat.”

A few blocks away was a restaurant Brad liked, so he led Nagi there. The Japanese youth was short even in Japan, and in North America he was tiny. A lot of people found Asian kids adorable, but Brad just thought they looked odd. Like little trolls. There were the occasional Asian he found attractive, but they were few and far between.

Schuldig would have ordered the most expensive thing on the menu out of spite, but Nagi chose a dish he liked and asked them to replace some things to better cater to his sensitive stomach.

“Why are you so set against being a parent?” Nagi asked while they waited for the food to arrive.

“I'm not.”

“So... what, it's just me?”

“I have two children already, and I'm legally married to the mother of one of them. The other belongs to an ex-girlfriend of mine currently living with my wife. As in, they're lovers. My parents wanted me to marry and hers wanted the same, so we decided to kill two birds with one stone. I sometimes talk to them on the phone or via video chats.”

Nagi fiddled with his cutlery.

“Daniel will be ten soon, Rebecka is eleven. If I hadn't had such a good memory I would have forgotten their existence altogether. As is, I try to make time to call on their birthdays.”

“You've never talked about your past, outside of Eszett,” Nagi said. He still wasn't making eye contact.

Brad hummed. “I ordered Schuldig to adopt you because you were terrified of me.”

“Your boyfriend is afraid of you.” Nagi muttered it with his head down.

“No,” Brad said automatically, then stopped himself. He sighed.

“Why did you have to fuck this up?”

“I didn't mean to.”

“Everything's been good,” Nagi continued as if Brad hadn't said anything. “Ran's nice. Minus the rest of _them_ , it's been good.”

“I really don't care right now, Nagi.”

“Yeah, ever think maybe that's the problem? You're selfish.”

“Everybody is. Schuldig is. Ran is. You are.”

“Why did Schuldig accept to adopt me?” Nagi asked.

Brad sighed. “I ordered him. He made me put that down in writing. He also accused me of having ulterior motives, of trying to tie him to the team – and he was right.”

They had fucked for the first time when Schuldig had dropped Nagi off at Eszett's closest school.

“So we're just tools to you?”

“You're the only son I've ever raised.”

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

It was almost disgusting, or insulting, how easy the job Brad had given him was.

 

He studied the details on the plane to the UK. It was a typical Kritiker job; bad guy doing bad things, but too smart to get caught by the law.

 

The flight was half empty and he managed to catch a few hours of sleep. Once he landed he picked up his luggage and checked into a hotel.

 

He had no weapons on him or with him. Normally that would be a mistake, but he had made progress with his talents. Especially the telekinesis. Watching Nagi really had paid off in the end.

 

An easy job was just what he needed to test if he was good enough to rely on it.

 

“ _Bring a knife or something, emerging talents are fickle_ ,” Alpha said in his mind.


	4. Chapter 4

They arrived in Japan late in the afternoon.

Their rooms were how they had left them.

Predictable little workaholic that he was the first thing Brad did was go through all the mail. Schuldig left the asshole to it. There was no way he was sleeping next to Brad when it was _his fault_ Ran was gone. Ran was a hothead with a short fuse, but unless you bugged him he started very little trouble on his own. He was content to go with the flow.

Schuldig sat in the middle of the loft bed and tried to find Ran. The rest of them weren't worried. Brad pretended he wasn't. He tried until it was almost time for bed. Then he got up and sneaked out.

Japan was still Japan. Schuldig had forgotten how common it was for people to stare at him. How they distrusted him for being a foreigner. It unnerved him and made him irritated on top of all the negative shit he was already feeling.

“Alex?” his father called out when he had walked a few blocks.

“I can't find him. He should be here by now.”

“He's been visiting the girl. The sister-cousin. Your mother is with him.” His father hugged him. “It'll work out.”

“Right.”

“Brad's beating himself up over this enough without you punishing him. He's not all that bad, you know that.”

Schuldig huffed, but he knew his father was right, logically at least. He was just twisting the knife because that was what his vindictive side was longing for.

He reluctantly walked back with his father in silence. Schuldig hated silence.

Brad waited in one of the chairs in their room. He looked decidedly unhappy, which was not as appealing as it should be. Schuldig straddled his lap.

“I'm not sure I want to forgive you,” he said frankly.

“Will you at least stay?” Brad asked him softly.

He wondered, idly, if he liked Ran better than Brad. At first he had been amused by Brad's attraction to him. Brad's focus on him. Then they had started sleeping together and Schuldig had liked it. But he still wasn't sure he loved Brad. Ran was... what? Easier to push around, for sure. More willing to submit. Ran loved _him_. Schuldig sighed wearily. Logically, Ran would come back. So shouldn't he make nice with Brad before then?

Schuldig nodded. “Fine, but don't think you're off the hook.”

“Neither one of us is perfect. I screwed up, I know, and I'm trying to fix it.”

Sitting in Brad's lap calmed him down a little. Schuldig knew he was more grounded when he had people who touched him.

“You'll treat Nagi better,” Schuldig said after a moment of silence. “He wants you to be his father, I don't see why you keep shying away. Unless you want to drag your biological children into this mess, you're not getting another go.”

“Fine.”

There was an earthquake, a small one, and Schuldig tensed.

“Nothing to worry about.”

He huffed. “I'm not used to them anymore, is all.”

“I keep seeing two things, a fork in the road,” Brad said softly then. “One is where Ran leaves, the other is him returning. If he doesn't come back, we're taking Nagi and we split.”

“What will happen?”

“Franz, and a team I don't know. They're coming for Kritiker, but they will be too tempted to take us out to not take that shot. I may have betrayed Eszett in general, but to Franz it's very personal.”

“I thought he retired.”

Brad shrugged.

“How does Ran factor in?”

“I'm not sure, exactly, but without him we can't win against Franz's new star pupils.”

Schuldig sighed. “So, no rest for the wicked.”

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

“We need to talk,” Ran told Brad over the phone while waiting for the plane. “I'll be back soon.”

“Just think things through,” Brad told him, a little this side of desperate.

“I have,” he said sincerely.

“We need to talk alright, you have the communication skills of a wild boar,” Schuldig's voice came on the phone. He was more amused than anything. “Idiot, he thinks you're dumping him.”

“I'm not,” Ran swore. “I'm really not.”

“Just come home,” Brad said tiredly. Ran assumed Schuldig had put the phone on speaker before, it was something Schuldig did.

“I'll be on the next flight.”

Alpha had been with him until the night before, taking an earlier flight.

Ran toyed with his phone until they announced that his flight was boarding. He only had a light backpack with him. He didn't need more. Hadn't brought more. He figured Brad or Schuldig would have picked up the things he'd left behind. Or he could buy more, it was just things.

The flight was boring. There was baby screaming on and off a few rows down. There really should be laws against flying with babies. How did anyone think a baby on a plane was a good idea? There was probably a reason why they screamed like they were being stabbed, so couldn't their parents grow some brains?

He was always mildly bored when he had no one around since he had grown used to people bothering him, but he was also good at crawling into his own head and just daydream or think about things better left alone. As long as there wasn't a baby wailing.

When he finally was on Japanese soil again he went straight to the safe house. Happy to get away from the crowded airport and the bustling city center of Tokyo. He had felt Schuldig latch onto the bond the minute he had landed, and he felt the slightly frantic way Schuldig was focusing on the bond.

The place was nearly empty from what he could sense. Brad and Schuldig both waited in the common area. They were occupying a couch each.

He dropped his backpack on the floor before he sat down next to Brad and hugged him tight.

“I'm sorry,” Brad said quietly, and Ran knew both that he meant it and that it must cost him to say it.

“I love you,” Ran said.

When they eased up a little Schuldig all but flew at him and hugged him tight enough to hurt. “Don't you ever leave again,” he hissed. “You're _mine_ , you're _ours_ , you're _not allowed_ to leave!”

“I won't.” Ran hugged Schuldig hard back. “I'm sorry I left.”

Schuldig had wild eyes when they loosened the hug enough to look each other in the eye. “Never,” Schuldig insisted, and sane wasn't even on the menu anymore.

“Never,” Ran said solemnly. “I love you.”

Schuldig stroked his hair, hugged him again. “Come on,” Schuldig eventually said, “we need to go to the new place.”

The move was mostly done. Schuldig had packed for the both of them, and Brad had probably packed weeks in advance.

Brad hugged Ran again before they locked the house up and left in a rented car.

The new safe house was large. It had taken Schuldig almost a full hour to calm enough to not look like he was five kinds of insane.

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

It felt good to have all three of them together again. Sometime after moving safe houses Schuldig had retrieved his cat from the old couple who lived by the beach in Chiba. Brad looked the feline in the eye while it sat on the table. “Hi,” he tried.

What do you say to your lover's cat, anyway?

It stared at him for a while, then started grooming itself.

Brad tried to remember what Schuldig had named it, but he couldn't remember ever having heard Schuldig call for the cat out loud. He took his phone out and texted the question to Schuldig.

He had to leave anyway. He had to meet a client and... suffer through a confrontation with Franz.

Brad took one of their cars to where he was supposed to be.

“I'm disappointed in you,” Franz said. The team behind the old man was sneering at him. They were young, but then Eszett had always liked their recruits young.

“I assume you would be.”

“You led our most efficient team. You exceeded every expectation we had,” Franz said bitterly.

“I thought you retired?”

“I did, briefly, but then suddenly my protégé turned around and bit the hand that fed him. And he didn't stop at killing his superiors, either. How did you manage to bleed us nearly dry?”

Brad smirked. Taking control over Eszett's finances hadn't been his original plan.

Franz nodded. “Yes, you always did like your secrets.” He made a motion with his hand for the team to follow him and then left.

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

The dregs left of Eszett were not intent on following the old agenda. They feared Crawford enough to leave him alone. For now. The confrontation with Franz meant the old man would eventually cause problems.

Either way, they no longer needed Kritiker.

“We're going rogue,” he told Manx.

She nodded. “This is why the safe house is emptied, I presume?”

“I have procured a new one. It's better if we're off the map, considering we have made an enemy you can't help us with.”

“And Weiss?”

“ _Weiss_ follows my lead,” he said with a slight smirk.

Manx toyed with a pen. “Give me a number to contact you with. We might need your services.”

Brad shook his head. “I'll be in touch if you ever do need it and have the funds to pay for it.”

Birman glared at him as he left the room. They would both cool down eventually. Kritiker did not have the finances to support a team of eight assassins. One could say he was doing necessary cutbacks.

Schuldig waited with the rented car with Ran. They drove in silence to the airport.

The cat was going with them. Apparently. “Is the cat going through security on your shoulder?” he asked.

“Yes. People will just see a fur hood.”

“The cameras will see something else.”

“True.” Schuldig chuckled. “I wonder what they will make of that. Someone might get fired,” he mused gleefully.

Brad wondered how he had ever looked at Schuldig and seen a sane person.

 

 


	8. Chapter 8

Youji sat down at the table with him while he had his morning tea. “So, I've been an ass, and I'm sorry.”

Ran blinked at him.

“Yeah,” Youji fiddled and spoke quietly, “I know you won't want me to be your friend right now. I just hope you'll stop avoiding me.”

“I thought of you as an older brother,” Ran said with a cold glare.

Youji nodded. “I never thought of you that way. I thought you just weren't interested since you never responded to flirting. Which I've been doing for years with no reaction.”

“With schoolgirls, the plants in the store and occasionally Omi,” Ran snorted.

“And you,” Youji pointed out.

“I'm not interested. Just because I'm not straight doesn't mean I'm interested in everything that comes my way.”

“I know,” Youji said. “I won't try anything. I saw Brad and Schuldig when you left... I never thought it was that serious.”

Ran shrugged. “You know I started having sex with them almost straight away? I didn't want you guys to know, because I thought it would never be more than that. But I like them, and they like me. And fuck you, no one in Schwarz would dump me with no way back home and Yakuza nearby.”

“That time I bought you dinner?”

“Yeah.”

Youji nodded.

“Ever since this whole merger... thing... I've wondered if you guys wanted me around at all. You never stuck around, you never acted like you cared. Any of you. I know I'm an asshole sometimes, but I don't get why -”

“No, stop,” Youji interrupted. “It's not your fault.”

Ran moved his cup this way and that as if to study it. “Really?”

“This is on us. In hindsight, we pretty much gave you to them gift-wrapped.” Youji sighed. “We were avoiding Schwarz, not you. It just turned out that way. We never expected you to try to play nice with them.”

“I did with you guys.”

“Hindsight is always 20-20,” Schuldig singsonged with a cruel smirk. He stroked Ran's hair.

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

Brad showed them how to disarm people. It was daily now, that either he or Schuldig trained them in different techniques or skills. They hung out in an abandoned building when they trained. It was moldy and gross, but they didn't attract attention.

“Don't worry, it's not loaded,” Brad said when Omi hesitated to take the gun from him.

Omi tried harder then.

Ran wondered if Brad really had a gun on him that wasn't loaded. He hadn't seen him take any bullets out.

They were all getting much better, and Ran was glad. Brad had told him about Franz and what he had seen coming.

When Omi got it all right they packed up. He had been the last.

“You okay?” Brad asked as they snuck out. “You look like you're thinking too much.”

“What was that bullshit about not having a loaded gun? I'd believe you if you said the safety was on, _maybe_ , but both you and Schuldig obsessively load your guns. Schuldig will keep a loaded gun next to him while cleaning his own just in case there's an emergency.”

“It was training,” Brad muttered.

“Eszett trains with live guns.”

“I'm trying to do better,” Brad sighed. “What more do you want from me?”

Ran glared.

“Fine, it was loaded. Are you happy now?”

“Couldn't you just have told him nothing was going to happen?”

“Not everyone trusts in my powers of foresight.”

 

 


	10. Chapter 10

Kritiker had recruited Ken and Omi back to spy on the team as double agents.

“I'm going to deal with this my way,” Schuldig told him while petting and cuddling his cat, as if this was the most normal topic in the world.

“You mean Eszett's way?” Brad clarified.

Schuldig grinned. “So? They're traitors now.”

“We betrayed Eszett.”

“Do you want them to live?” Schuldig challenged. “ _Seriously_ , Brad?”

“Not particularly, but Ran might.”

“Ran is touchy about civilians. These are no innocents. He'll understand.”

“In any case, wait until Franz makes his move. We need people, might as well get the most out of them.”

Schuldig nodded. “Sure, babe.”

They had shared an awkward silence for almost fifteen minutes when Nagi came in. “I think I have the identities of most of Franz's team.”

“One of them is Berger,” Schuldig said. “Old fox in this game. Decent telepath. Probably peed himself in excitement when Franz asked him to be a part of his super special new team.”

“Yes, the others are new recruits.” Nagi showed the files he had put together on a tablet computer.

“Could you maybe share knowledge with us more frequently?” Brad asked Schuldig.

Schuldig shrugged unapologetically. “Saw him in your head just now.”

“The other three,” Nagi said pointedly, “are Geisel -”

“Geisel means hostage in German,” Schuldig huffed. “Lame.”

“He's a pyrokinetic,” Nagi shrugged. “The girl is called Layla, she's a telekinetic.”

“And the last one?” Brad asked.

“Don't have anything on him,” Nagi sighed. “It's like he doesn't exist. Based on the setup I would guess some sort of mental talent. Geisel and Layla is enough firepower, Berger is the telepath.”

“They don't need a precognitive,” Brad said, suddenly sure.

“Why not?” Schuldig asked.

“Because every time someone has rebelled against Eszett there's been one involved.”

“Franz wouldn't take in a normal,” Nagi mused.

“Depends,” Brad said. “He's the one who saw potential in Farfarello.”

“Berger used to have a partner. Could that be him? Fromm, he's from Berlin. Also a telepath.” Schuldig pointed to the picture. “He seems to be the right age. Clever. Two telepaths can block a precognitive.”

“Block how?” Nagi asked.

“Brad won't see their moves, or he'll see a false vision depending on how they play it.”

 

 


End file.
